A study conducted by the scientists at Western Infirmary Epilepsy Unit in Glasgow, confirmed that drug levetiracetam is effective as a single therapy. This study was published in the journal Neurology.
This was a double-blind study which had around six hundred participants who had suffered at least two attacks of convulsions in the last year to the drug levetiracetam or to controlled release carbamazepine which is considered as the usual therapy for epilepsy.Generally levetiracetam is used in combination with other drugs. But this is the first time it was tested as a lone therapy. It was found that 72.8% of people who had received carbamazepine did not have epileptic attack for six months while it was 73% for levetiracetam users.
Dr Martin Brodie who is the lead scientist of this study opines that levetiracetam has an edge over other epileptic drugs as it is proved to be a safe and user friendly drug. This study also emphasizes the fact that epileptic patients react better to the drug that is given to them first at low dosage levels.
Source-Medindia
JYT
